A bus carrying a group of Palestinian pilgrims flipped over in Jordan Saturday, killing the driver and 16 Palestinian and Jordanian passengers, and injuring more than 30 others.
The bodies of the Palestinian fatalities were to be brought to the West Bank for burial on Sunday.
Twenty-five of the injured were transferred to hospitals in Amman; at least five of them were reported to be in critical condition.
The bus was en route to the Allenby Bridge (King Hussein Bridge) crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, which is used for passengers and trade, and which Israel controls.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had received information about the accident. The Magen David Adom emergency medical service offered to help treat the victims.
The bus, carrying Palestinians who had performed the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in neighboring Saudi Arabia, reportedly collided with a truck on the highway and then turned over. The driver lost control, skidded and collided into the trailer, then overturned about 12 miles east of the border crossing.
The initial death toll of 15 was raised to 17 by Jordanian authorities on Saturday evening.
At least six of passengers who died were residents of Jenin in the northern West Bank. The transfer of the bodies from Jordan to the Palestinian territories was to be handled by Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habash and head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service Ziyad Hab al-Rih, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
Israel said it would keep the border crossing open for longer hours than usual in order to facilitate the return of the bodies and those injured to their homes and to enable relatives to enter Jordan, Israel Radio reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
